National President Dougan: "Federal Workers Deserve a Pay Adjustment that Actually Reflects the Cost of Living"

Washington,
D.C. – Following the introduction of
S. 2397 yesterday, introduced by Senator Schatz
(D-HI) and Senator Cardin (D-Md.), William R.
Dougan, National President of the National
Federation of Federal Employees, the oldest
federal employee union representing 110,000
federal workers throughout the U.S., issued the
following statement:

“NFFE strongly
supports S. 2397 and commends Senator Schatz
and Senator Cardin for their support of the
federal workforce. S. 2397 would provide
federal employees a much-needed 3.3 percent pay
adjustment instead of the President’s
woefully insufficient one percent adjustment
proposed in his budget earlier this year. This
bill is a welcome counterpart to the Federal
Adjustment of Income Rates (FAIR) Act,
introduced in the House by Congressman Connolly
in March,” Dougan said.

“It is encouraging
to see more members of Congress stand up each
day and publicly recognize the sacrifices that
federal employees have made in recent years.
With the current pay disparity between federal
and private sector employees at 35 percent and
growing, the federal workforce needs a
significant kick start in order to recruit and
retain the qualified workforce federal agencies
need to do the business of the American people.
As the cost of living increases for all
Americans, federal employees have been left
behind with stagnate wages. A 3.3 pay
adjustment is a step in the right direction to
account for the increased cost of living over
the past years. Federal workers deserve a pay
adjustment that actually reflects the cost of
living,” Dougan said.

“After all that
federal workers have sacrificed in the name of
deficit reduction in recent years, federal
employees are becoming increasingly unhappy
with their federal employment. Now more than
ever, we genuinely hope members of Congress
understand the importance of addressing the
dwindling morale of federal employees. Raising
morale, through legislation like S. 2397 and
the FAIR Act, will allow the government to
recruit and retain top-tier candidates, which
results in better services to the citizens of
our country,” Dougan said.

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Established in
1917, the National Federation of Federal
Employees is the oldest union representing
civil service federal employees. NFFE
represents 110,000 federal employees in 35
departments and agencies government-wide,
including the majority of federal wildland
firefighters. NFFE is affiliated with the
International Association of Machinists and
Aerospace Workers, AFL-CIO. For more
information, go to www.nffe.org.